Digital transmission method for bandwidth and bit rate flexibility

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to AC coding. The phase angle or the duration of pulses are marked by half-periods or periods and are then provided as stages. The aim of the present invention is to flexibly adjust the bandwidths and bit rates. The number of filler elements that are allocated to the active code elements is increased or reduced. Bit rate flexibility is obtained by increasing or reducing the positions or stages or by configuring the code elements of virtual code words in a serial manner in relation to code words for transmitting information, whereby said code elements are arranged in parallel.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention is concerned with the digital transmission of information. Higher-value encoding procedures are provided in order to make better use of the transmission paths. Such encoding procedures are used both by way of conductor-based paths and also by way of radio paths and light waveguides.

STATE OF THE ART

[0002] Known in this respect are ASK (amplitude shift keying), PSK (phase shift keying) and FSK (frequency shift keying). Methods have recently also been disclosed, in which the pulse position of pulses (U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,797, European patent No 0 620 960) and the pulse duration (U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,829) were provided as encoding stages insofar as for that purpose an alternating current of a frequency and a phase position with a predetermined number of periods was used and a change in the stages was effected by reducing or increasing the number of periods.

[0003] The asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is also known, in which the items of useful and control information of a source are divided into packets of fixed length, the cells. The expenditure in terms of hardware for that technology however is considerable. Cell overhauling phenomena additionally require for example resequencing mechanisms. Associated with each cell is a cell header which contains the control data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The object of the invention is to provide digital information transmission in which the transmission paths are put to optimum use by simple band width switching procedures and stage or bit switching procedures.

[0005] That is achieved by the teaching disclosed in claim 1.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006]FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 show the principle of phase and duration pulse coding,

[0007]FIGS. 4, 5 and 7 show the principle of the envelope curves and with a smooth amplitude transition,

[0008]FIG. 9 shows a 16-PSK diagram,

[0009]FIGS. 8 and 11 show a radio relay system conventionally and in accordance with the invention,

[0010]FIG. 6 shows the principle of switching over to different transmission modes,

[0011]FIG. 10 shows application of the invention in relation to single sideband,

[0012]FIG. 12 shows the switching of channels by way of a plurality of nodes,

[0013]FIG. 13 shows a flexible code transmission without a modification to the hardware, and

[0014]FIG. 14 shows the principle of a television receiver with single-carrier signal transmission.

[0015] The methods on which this invention is based will firstly be described in greater detail. The greater the number of stages or steps in the code, the more information that can be transmitted, as can be seen from the following table: No of stages: No of places: Combinations: Bits: 2 2/3/4/5 4/8/16/32 2/3/4/5 3 ″ 9/27/81/243 3/4/6/7 4 ″ 16/64/256/1024 4/6/8/10 5 ″ 25/125/625/3125 4/6/9/11 6 ″ 36/216/1296/7776 5/7/10/12

[0016] If 2 90°-phase-shifted alternating currents of the same frequency, which are added for the transmission (OAM), are used for encoding, that gives 4×4=16 stages.

[0017] In the case of carrier frequency transmission because of the ⅙ power it is advantageously possible to use the single sideband method. As in accordance with the carrier formula: ${\mu_{AM}(t)} = {{{{\overset{\_}{\mu}}_{T} \cdot \sin}\quad \omega_{T}t} + {{\frac{m}{2} \cdot {\overset{\_}{\mu}}_{T} \cdot {\cos \left( {\omega_{T} - \omega_{M}} \right)}}t} - {{\frac{m}{2} \cdot \overset{\_}{\mu_{T}} \cdot {\cos \left( {\omega_{T} + \omega_{M}} \right)}}t}}$

[0018] the modulation amplitude is not also involved in the frequency, that affords narrow-band transmission.

[0019] The Phase Principle:

[0020] With this principle the phase positions of pulses for example with respect to a reference pulse or the positive or negative difference with respect to the preceding pulse are provided as stages or steps. In FIG. 1 the reference phase is the pulse B1, B2, B3, . . . . As FIG. 1a shows the pulses Bn1, Bn2, Bn3 are phase-shifted by the amount n. In FIG. 1b the pulses BN1, BN2, BN3 involve the same phase. That phase code would therefore have 2 stages Bn and BN. Those pulses are represented by integral half-periods or periods of the same frequency.

[0021]FIG. 2 shows such an encoding situation. 4 periods are associated with the reference pulse. The first pulse BNp therefore has 4 periods. If the following pulse should be trailing, it must have 5 periods. The second pulse Bnn therefore trails by the amount n. If the third pulse should remain trailing, it must contain 4 periods. The fourth pulse should again be in phase with the reference pulse, this is achieved in that it has a period fewer, that is to say 3 periods. It will also be seen that each following pulse has a change in amplitude. A doubling in the number of stages can be achieved by the pulses being caused to begin on the one hand with a positive half-period and on the other hand with a negative half-period. This is shown hatched in the drawing. That therefore then gives at place 2, 4 stages (European patent No 0 953 246 B1).

[0022] The Pulse Duration Principle:

[0023] This principle involves using various pulse durations or pulse duration differences as stages or steps. FIG. 3 shows 3 pulse durations, D1, D2 and D3, that is to say 3 stages. It also represents a code word having 3 places or digits. The place 1 can occupy the stages D1, D2, D3, the place 2 can occupy the stages D2, D1, D3 and the place 3 can occupy the stages D3, D1, D2. With 3 stages and 3 places that gives 3 to the power 3 combinations, that is to say 3×3×3=27 combinations. If in addition the positive and negative beginning of the stages or code elements are used, that gives 6 stages. With 3 places, that then gives 216 combinations. QAM can also be used. The encoding alternating current can also be provided as a transmission alternating current.

[0024] How is the feature ‘flexibility of the band widths’ which is particularly emphasised in the ATM procedure achieved with the present methods? That can be done in a very very simple way. The changes in amplitude also give rise to an envelope curve. FIG. 4 shows such a curve with 2 and 3 periods as stages. In this case fH is the envelope curve. In FIG. 5 in contrast the stages are 11, 12 and 11, 12, 13 periods. In the case of both stages, there are 10 periods as filling elements. It will be seen there that the frequency of the envelope curve is much smaller, that is to say the band width is also smaller. The band width can therefore be determined by means of the filling elements. This does not require any change in the encoding frequency.

[0025] As regards also the bit rates, these can be controlled in a highly flexible manner. It will be apparent from FIGS. 1 to 3 that it is possible to provide any amount of stages without the encoding frequency having to be altered. Depending on the respective transmission mode, speech, data images, the code words can be accurately matched to the required number of bits, and that naturally also applies in regard to ATM. The principle is shown in FIG. 6. The encoding frequency is generated in the oscillator OSC and fed to the modulator MO. Depending on whether music, speech or image or television is to be transmitted, marked by the feed M, S, B at the encoder, the appropriate stages and code words are passed to the modulator—in actual fact only one respective period counting procedure and amplitude switching operation is necessary. That avoids redundancy. The number of bits of the code words is therefore precisely adapted to the respective transmission mode. The code words are then decoded in the decoder D Cod and converted into the respective analog values of M or S or B. FIG. 7 shows a gentle amplitude switching operation. Between the amplitudes A and AI there is also a period involving the transitional amplitude AÜ.

[0026] In order to demonstrate how great the information density is with that method, a comparison is made with a radio relay system, the circuit in principle of which is shown in FIG. 8. This is designed for 34.368 Mbits. The band width is 1700-2100 MHz with 4 PSK encoding. It will be seen that the hardware is very expensive. With a code as shown in FIGS. 1-3 or 4 the predetermined band width would not be sufficient. Filling elements therefore have to be provided. With 4 stages with 10, 11, 12 and 13 periods on average 11.5 periods are required for a code element. For a 4-digit code word 4×11.5=46 periods are then required. Assuming that 1900 MHz is the encoding frequency, that then gives 1900:46=41.3 M code words/s. With one code word there is 4 to the power 4=256 combinations, that is to say 8 bits. With 41.3 M code words that is 41.3×8=330 Mbits/s. That therefore involves 9.6 times more bits than in the conventional radio relay system. With a doubling of the stages, as set forth in FIG. 2, that then gives 8 stages. With 4 places that gives 8 to the power 4=4096 combinations =12 bits. With 41.3 code words that is 495.6 Mbits/s. That is 14.4 times as many as in the radio relay system involving conventional encoding. If the encoding procedure involves the use of 2 alternating currents at 1900 MHz which are phase-shifted relative to each other through 90° and which are added upon transmission (OAM), that gives 8×8=64 stages. With a code word involving 2 places, that gives 12 bits. Then on average 23 periods are necessary per code word so that at 1900 MHz 82.6 M code words are obtained, this is then 991 Mbits/s, that is to say 28.8 times more than in the radio relay system. Counting members are primarily required in the encoding and decoding procedures. To compare how simple that code is, FIG. 9 shows a diagram of a 16-stage phase encoding procedure. FIG. 11 shows the principle of a radio relay system according to the invention. The signal arriving with the HDB3 code is converted in the code converter into the code according to the invention and forwarded directly to the transmitting amplifier Vr and to the antenna.

[0027]FIG. 10 shows carrier transmission on a single sideband basis. The information Jf is encoded in the encoder Cod with the encoding alternating current fM and modulated in the ring modulator RM with the alternating current fTr. The carrier +/− modulation frequency is at the output of the ring modulator. In the example the lower sideband is filtered out with the high pass filter HP so that only the upper sideband which in fact also contains all the information is transmitted. As can be seen from the carrier formula modulation amplitude is not also involved in the frequency.

[0028]FIG. 12 shows network nodes K1, K2, K3 with coupling arrangements contained therein. Each node has a control unit St. The remote connections of the local connections are connected to the respective control unit by way of 0. How much traffic goes directly from the node 1 to the node 3 is detected statistically. Channels in the node K2 are then correspondingly directly switched through.

[0029]FIG. 13 shows encoding of colour television signals. Associated with the luminance tappings L are 8 bits. Allocated to 4 luminance tappings in each case is 1 colour tapping I/Q or red/blue each with 6 bits. Those 12 bits are then attached to the 4×8 bits of the luminance values. In addition 1 bit for control signals and speech is also associated with each luminance tapping. Therefore 12 bits must be encoded per tapping. Therefore one carrier is sufficient for transmission. Accordingly the television receiver can also be designed as shown in FIG. 14 like a superhet radio receiver as far as the decoder, that is to say input stage, mixer stage, demodulator. The signals are then separated in the decoder, according to their functions. The colour difference signals are then produced by way of the matrix M. AS, Y, sound T and other signals SO are switched to the appropriate components.

[0030] Another method of band width and bit rate flexibility is also set forth hereinafter, which will be described in greater detail with reference to FIG. 13. As can be seen from that Figure, all colour television signals are encoded with 12 bits and transmitted. As the tapping of the colour signals is slower than that of the luminance signals, they are distributed with intermediate storage to 4 luminance values. If another kind of information is to be transmitted after conclusion of the colour television transmission, redundancy losses are to be reckoned to occur with the previous encoding procedures. FIG. 13 shows a method with which those disadvantages do not occur. In this respect the code words I, II, III, . . . are in the form of virtual code words. They are also transmitted at a predetermined frequency. In this case, associated with each parallel code element 1 p to 12 p is a channel, that is to say the channels 1 to 12 for the 12 code elements 1 p to 12 p. Code words are therefore formed serially, for example I1 p, II1 p, III1 p, IV1 p, I1P, . . . . In the case of speech 8 code elements would be serially required. Those code words can assume any size. It is only the kind of information to be transmitted that is important. The serially arranged code words are then obtained by means of a parallel/serial converter. With memories and multiplexers it is then possible for example for all 12 channels to be occupied, in that case each channel can transmit code words of different sizes. It will be appreciated that, upon a change in the kind of information and channel occupation, that is communicated to the next evaluation location, for example similarly to the case with ATM the cell header. Block but not cell transmission is in fact appropriate. Transmission of the information for example of the 12 channels can be effected with any code, with 4 PSK, QAM. The code of the present invention is most appropriate. With a memory and the transmission speed there are always possible ways of adaptation.

[0031] It is possible with this method to achieve band width flexibility and bit rate flexibility without involvement in the hardware. The transmission paths are put to optimum use. Together with the wavelength multiplex method it is thought that the band width deficiency is overcome thereby for the foreseeable future.

[0032] Encoding of the information of the respective channel can be effected with an encoding alternating current. For that purpose it is also possible to provide two alternating currents of the same frequency, which are phase-shifted through 90° relative to each other and added for the transmission. It will be appreciated that it is possible to provide two alternating currents involving the same phase if they are modulated for the transmission on to two 90° phase-shifted carriers. They are then also added. 

1. A digital transmission method for band width and bit rate flexibility characterised in that provided for the transmission is a virtual code word (FIG. 13, I—1 p to 12 p) which is transmitted with any code (for example 4 PSK, QAM or the code according to the invention), in that case serially formed by each parallel code element (FIG. 13, 1p to 12 p) of the virtual code word is a channel (FIG. 13, 1-12) whose code elements or code words is associated with a respective kind of information to be transmitted (for example speech 8 bit—1 p, I+II+III+IV+I+II+III+IV), wherein code words with a different number of bits can also be associated with the channels or the code elements of two or more channels can also be combined to form a code word.
 2. A digital transmission method for band width and bit rate flexibility in which for encoding of the information an alternating current of a frequency and phase position is provided sent in an uninterrupted sequence and in which the stages are represented by a number of different magnitude or a duration of different magnitude and/or by various phase positions of pulses, by the half-periods or periods of a periodic sequence, for example an alternating current, characterised in that a change in band width is effected by the number of filling elements (FIG. 5, 1-10) associated with the active determining code elements (FIG. 5—1,2 (11, 12)-123 (11, 12, 13) being reduced or increased.
 3. A digital transmission method for band width and bit rate flexibility in which for encoding of the information an alternating current of a frequency and phase position is provided sent in an uninterrupted sequence and in which the stages are represented by a number of different magnitude or a duration of different magnitude and/or by various phase positions of pulses, by the half-periods or periods of a periodic sequence, for example an alternating current, characterised in that switching-over to a different code word bit number is effected by a reduction in places and/or stages or by an increase in places and/or stages, by the half-periods or periods in one or more encoding alternating currents of the same or different frequencies, wherein besides the parallel arrangement of the code elements they can also be arranged serially or parallel/serially.
 4. A method according to claims 1 to 3 characterised in that an increase in the stages is effected by the encoded information being distributed to two alternating currents of the same frequency which are phase-shifted through 90° relative to each other and which are added for the transmission, or that 2 encoding alternating currents of the same frequency and phase position are provided, which are modulated on to two 90° phase-shifted carriers, the carriers being added for the transmission.
 5. A method according to claims 1 to 4 characterised in that an increase in the stages is effected by the beginning or the end of the respective code element being caused to begin or end with a positive or negative half-period.
 6. A method according to claims 1 to 5 characterised in that encoding is effected on a reference basis, a difference basis or an absolute basis.
 7. A method according to claim 1 characterised in that for encoding of the virtual code word, there is provided an alternating current of a frequency and phase position, sent in an uninterrupted sequence, in which the stages are represented by a number of different magnitude or a duration of different magnitude and/or by different phase positions of pulses, by the half-periods or periods of a periodic sequence, for example an alternating current, wherein a change in band width is also effected by associating a predetermined number of filling elements (FIG. 5—1 to 10 filling elements) with the number of active determining code elements (FIG. 5—1, 2 (11, 12-1, 2, 3 (11, 12, 13).
 8. A method according to claims 1 and 7 characterised in that switching-over of the virtual code word is effected to another bit number upon encoding with an alternating current of a frequency and phase position, sent in an uninterrupted sequence, and wherein the stages are represented by a number of different magnitude of half-periods or periods or by durations of different magnitude and/or different phase positions of pulses, by the half-periods or periods of a periodic sequence, for example an alternating current, by a place or stage reduction or place and/or stage increase being effected by the half-periods or periods of the periodic sequence, more specifically with one or more encoding alternating currents of the same or different frequencies, wherein the position of the code elements besides a parallel arrangement can also be arranged serially or parallel/serially.
 9. A method according to claim 1 characterised in that there is provided a header which sends the respective channel occupation to the received location.
 10. A method according to claims 1 and 9 characterised in that transmission of the information is effected on a block basis. 